Another Adventure in South America 🌎
Since we snagged a super flight deal to Brazil, our next adventure starts in South America - I visit here regularly, but there's still so much to see! First up is São Paulo, where I got a shock right away. 😂
I have never seen so many homeless people in one place before, despite having been to many international cities, including poorer areas. São Paulo took it to another level because you can find people in tents, under tarps, and even without any form of shelter over their heads in every single street! In front of the cathedral, we saw the extent of the problem because instead of tourists, there were only hundreds of homeless people and many police officers trying to keep everything under control. According to a local, the situation has worsened significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more and more people are ending up on the streets. 😳 During our five days in Rio, we were approached countless times by locals (sometimes in the middle of the street) to watch our belongings, phones, etc. - I've never experienced this before, and it was a strange feeling! 🤨
Nevertheless, we still explored the city and did some activities. We were particularly impressed by the food in Brazil - in local restaurants, you usually pay per 100g, so you can get a plate of fresh ingredients and lots of vegetables for less than €3, and sometimes there are even all-you-can-eat buffets for less than €5 per person. 😍🔥
From São Paulo, we took a flight to Foz do Iguaçu - the border town with Paraguay. Besides an incredible number of restaurants and bars, the main tourist attraction here is the Iguazu Falls - the largest waterfalls in the world. I've been here twice before, but it's always fascinating, and it should definitely be on everyone's bucket list! There are 275 individual waterfalls spread over a huge area, no matter where you look! 😱 Additionally, with a bit of luck, you can see the small coatis searching for unsuspecting tourists to snatch their food. 😂
However, we didn't stay in Foz do Iguaçu for long because we went directly across the Friendship Bridge to Paraguay. Since there isn't much to do in Paraguay, we took a bus directly to Asunción, the social and economic center of Paraguay. We worked a lot here and did a few smaller activities. Additionally, we experienced Christmas vibes for the first time here, as everything was beautifully decorated - in 30-degree heat. 😂
Initially, we planned to take a bus from Paraguay to Argentina, but we found that many of the country borders in South America were closed due to COVID-19, and entry is usually only possible by airplane. So we changed our plans and booked a flight to Chile with plenty of time in between. However, due to COVID regulations, there are countless requirements for entry into Chile, including having to verify vaccinations with the Chilean health authority. When we arrived at the airport after more than a week, we were sent back home because this verification process can take up to 40 days! Spontaneous travel is no longer possible... 🥺
So we had to change our plans again and decided to take flights to Peru since we only need a negative PCR test result here... Let's see if it works this time! 😁👍
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